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I’m struggling to think of a harder working team than the USA in this tournament, sports fans. They may not be the most technically accomplished team playing this summer, but they certainly put in a full ninety minutes in every match that they play, and I even suspect that there’s a chance that they might edge past Belgium this evening. Food for thought time – there hadn’t, prior to the start of this tournament, been a quarter-finalist from the CONCACAF region since the USA were beaten at that stage by Germany in 2002. This year, if the USA win,...

Ho ho, me so funny. It’s the last day of the Second Round of this year’s World Cup, so it’s time to take another look at Argentina and see if they’re capable of going all the way this year. A comfortable draw certainly helps their case, but today’s match against Switzerland isn’t quite a foregone conclusion. The Swiss recovered from a sound beating at the hands of France get through to this stage of the competition, after all. Anyway, we’ll be back shortly. You can follow Twohundredpercent on Twitter by clicking...

Hello sports fans, and welcome to the fourth Second Round match of this year’s World Cup finals. Can you believe that it’s almost a quarter of a century since Germany last won the World Cup? No, me neither. Still, here we are, and they’ve been impressive so far, thumping against Portugal and workmanlike against Ghana and the USA. This is a first time past the group stages for Algeria, meanwhile, and a little extra spice has been added to this match by recollections of The Shame Of Gijon, the 1982 match between West Germany and Austria that edged Algeria...

Financial trouble at a lower league football club doesn’t just affect the supporters. Here’s John Perkins on what happened next to last season’s Hereford United team. In the lower leagues and non-league football, the clubs are small enough that it’s possible for the fans and the team to become close over the course of the season even though it’s recognised that most of the players will only be around on a temporary basis. It’s easy for a successful squad to be adopted by the fan base so that in future years they’re viewed with real fondness. The Conference team of 2003/04 that came second to Chester is a good example of that. Sometimes, though, a bond forms between fans and players because they’ve weathered adversity together which describes the 2013/14 season pretty well as Hereford United was submerged in a continual financial crisis. The extent of the trouble became evident as the season closed and we knew that the players were not being paid on time. However, despite being treated very poorly they took inspiration from Peter Beadle and ensured Conference survival on the last game of the season. Their efforts during the last few games of the season transformed the team from itinerant players to part of the Hereford community. This is the Hereford first team squad from the 2013/14 season. These are the people that gave their...

Good afternoon, sports obsessives. Today sees the continuation of the second round of the 2014 World Cup, with France, who were perhaps the most impressive team of the group stages of the competition, taking on Nigeria for a place in the quarter finals of the competition. You can catch up with what is going on both in Brazil and my living room from just before five. You can follow 200% on Twitter by clicking ...